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Some scientists are raising concerns that building too many wind turbines near each other will result in an overall decline in wind power output as turbines begin to interfere in one another's airflow. But other researchers say that the theoretical saturation point where turbines begin to undermine their own effectiveness is still billions of turbines away, if it exists at all. The American Wind Energy Association said a wind-power saturation point is the result of "crude theoretical modeling techniques."

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Measurements that track the motion of wind turbine blades could help scientists understand the wake effect of blades and could ultimately "lower the cost of maintenance by two to three cents per kilowatt hour," said Vanderbilt University School of Engineering professor Doug Adams. Wind farm developers could use the data to produce more wind power using fewer wind turbines, he said. Adams and his team are conducting research on the subject at Vanderbilt University inside a wind tunnel.

Huron County, Mich., is home to over 300 wind turbines, and the industry there may have reached a tipping point, argue some officials calling for stronger regulations. The American Wind Energy Association ranks Michigan as the state with the fourth highest amount of installed wind capacity added in 2014. "The ordinances we're currently operating under are inadequate to protect the jewel of Huron County -- its shoreline. It's because the county is becoming saturated," said Huron County Board of Commissioners Chairman John Nugent.

Although the U.S. power sector increased output in 2011, its greenhouse-gas emissions continued to fall largely due to "increased use of natural gas and growing reliance on renewable energy," according to a study by Ceres and other groups. Since the passage of key amendments to the Clean Air Act in 1990, greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants have decreased significantly as natural gas and renewable-energy generation rose, the report showed. "The electric power industry is moving to cleaner sources of energy, demonstrating that cleaner power generation is achievable," said Mindy Lubber, president of Ceres.

Nobody was hurt when a blade from a Siemens turbine at the Ocotillo Wind Farm in California crashed Thursday. The 265-megawatt wind facility has 112 Siemens 2.3MW turbines and is located at a 10,000-acre property supervised by the Bureau of Land Management.

India's Tata Power may enter into an initial public offering for its clean-energy unit next financial year. Renewable energy is expected to become competitive with fossil fuel-based grid power, prompting the firm to consider increasing wind and solar capacity, said Rahul Shah, who heads the utility's business development and renewables group. The clean-energy unit could begin to draw investor interest once its generation capacity goes up to about 300 megawatts, "probably in the next financial year," Shah said.